Penobscot Bay podcast

On November 21, 2015, Rockland poet Kendall Merriam visited WRFR's studio and read three poems and the introduction to his 1980s work Medvedb's Journal The reading starts with the recenty written "Bear Dance" a poetic tribute to Merriam's long time friend the late Gunnar Hansen. This is followed by a reading of Hansens introduction to Merriam's book "Medvedb's Journal". It is entitled Medved dances. Next: "An open Poem to ISIS" written in Thomaston in 2015. Followed by "At the cafe" written in paris in 2013. Medved's Journal was published by Blackberry Books of Nobleboro Maine A reviewer at the Bollard wrote: "I suppose one would call Medvedb’s Journal a novel, though there’s no plot, hardly any dialogue, and really only one character: Medvedb, a very horny, schizophrenic poet who thinks he’s both a bear and the president of the United States."

On May 23rd the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a two hour virtual meeting of the Maine Ocean Energy Task Force to discuss next steps for reviewing energy giant Statoil's plan to deploy four deepwater wind turbines 12+ miles off Brunswick, Maine. The meeting was followed at 3pm by this 25 minute public conference call in which BOEM officialo Aditi Mirani led a question and answer session about the meeting and about where the Statoil plan presently stands

Part 3 of May 20, 2010 meeting at Rockport Opera House, Rockport Maine. 50 Minutes Long. Topics: Plan for windfarm on Camden Hills's Ragged Mountain, and a question and answer session, including Des Fitzgerald of Principle Power about his company's offshore windmill designs

Emperors are known for many things, but only an amazing emperor - the Emperor Penguin- lays eggs. Find out how and why in this fascinating book by Brenda Z. Guiberson, illustrated by Joan Paley. Read to you by Kalen Darney, on WRFR Community Radio's Penobscot Bay Report for September 3, 2009

On June 15, 2009 Maureen Bornholdt of the federal Office of Offshore Alternative Energy Programs gave this 40 minute keynote speech to the participants of Energy Ocean 09, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport Maine. Bornholdt describes how her office (a branch of the US Interior Department) has been given the mandate of rationalizing the exploitation of alternative ocean energy in federal and US EEZ waters. To that end she and her staff have put together a Framework to guide the granting of leases, easements and rights of way for renewable energy on the Outer Continental Shelf. Bornholdt's talk was followed by a lengthy Q & A session, that is being uploaded seperately.

Today's 30 minute podcast reviews an recent article by Kim Lincoln of Village Soup's Rockland Herald Gazette on the interim results of an investigation by OPEGA, Maine's Office of Program Evaluation & Government Accountability, into the wrongdoings of Maine state prison officials, including Warden Jeffery Merrill and assistant corrections commissioner Denise Lord. Interlaced with a few choice excerpts of Jimi Hendrix music Regrettably, the Legislature voted a few days ago to terminate the OPEGA investigation and leave it up to Maine Department of Corrections to investigate themselves. In their words: "...allow the Department of Corrections to address these questions in continuing the cultural change work it has initiated in a more deliberate, coordinated and accelerated fashion. OPEGA, the Government Oversite Committee and/or the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee would receive periodic updates from the Department on the status of its cultural change efforts and the results achieved. In this way, the Department would be held accountable to pursue necessary change." Uh huh. 'held accountable'? Magnusson, Merill and Lord must have laughed all the way back to their prison fastness. See recent meeting minutes about the maine state prison review at http://www.maine.gov/legis/opega/GOC/GOC_meetings/Current_handouts/5-22-09/Meeting%20Summary-Tab%201.pdf

In this week's 24 minute long edition of the weekend roundtable, I talk about, and play an excerpt of, our band of grassroots activists hectoring Big Green, Big Government and Big Trade outside the governor's mansion in Augusta, Maine. The latest skirmish in our fight to keep the western third of 940 acre wild Sears island from being turned into railyard and container port, and the estuary's nursery shoals from being blasted and dredged to let container ships come close to the island. Learn the important difference between the old "New England Sierra Club chapter" that protected Sears Island through state and federal courts in the 1980s and early 90s, and the present day "Maine Sierra Club Chapter" that received an award for signing off on the dismemberment plan So we go to Augusta on a hot May 22nd to challenge the Governor's Sears Island "environmental award" ceremony! Nature was on our side: way too hot to close the mansion's windows. Attendees at the Governor's Sears Island whackers award ceremony could hear our power bullhorned taunts and imprecations, and could see the coffined Rachel Carson speaking from the grave and the ghost, too of Sierra club founder John Muir, who gave Sierra Club a Rubber Duck award for "quack environmentalism". The Kennebec Journal WBZ TV and Maine Public Radio came across from the ceremony and got the straight scoop from us.

This week's Weekend Roundtable features a caller commenting on Maine's continuing use of torture in its prisons. He describes his own experience being put in sensory deprivation conditions during his incarceration for a marijuana offense. He also describes how difficult it is to get training at vocational schools in Maine if you are an ex-con. He also mentioned the protest against torture that took place at the Maine state prison's gate See photo. Today's podcast is fifteen minutes 30 seconds long

On May 13, 2009 Robin Alden, executive Director of Penobscot East, and Jeff Smith of The nature Conservancy gave a presentation of the Maine Legislture's Marine Resources Committee. First Jeff Smith of TNC describes a plan, endorsed by MidCoast Fishermen's Association, Penobscot East, Island Institute and others, to use philanthropists to purchase federal groundfish permits. The permits would be limited to use by downeast Maine part time groundfishermen and other small boat fishers to use in fishing in federal waters off the Downeast Maine coast. Robin Alden of Penobscot East's statement begins about ten minutes into the recording. Alden proposes that a "sentinel fishery" be carried out to determine what condition the groundfish schools near the coast are, and whether they could be exploited by a hook-only commercial fishery. The legislators quiz the pair on details (Price of a groundfish permit can vary from $100,000 dollars apiece to millions.)

Scallopers Michael Keating and Arthur Alley talk for 33 minutes with WRFR Community Radio's Ron Huber about their fishery in southwest Penobscot Bay, about the regulators who rule their fisheries and about the importance of keeping the complete ecosystem of the Bay and Gulf of Maine healthy.

On April 23, 2009 scallopers Arthur Alley and Michael Keating visited the studio of WRFR Community Radio in Rockland,to talk about scallops and the state of Penobscot Bay.

Legislature's Natural Resources Committee held a public hearing on LD 1282 "An Act To Protect and Enhance Maine Marine Fisheries." The bill would requires the owners of hydropower dams in Maine to enable safe and reliable passage over or around them for Maine's diadromous fishes. This recording is 14 minutes of testimony by Kerry Hardy of Rockland, who lays out the historic distribution of diadromous fishes in Maine, their management over the last century and a half, and urges the bill be passed

On April 8, 2009 Maine DMR hosted a meeting at the Rockland Ferry terminal to discuss potential closed aras within the waters of Penobscot Bay and Muscongus Bay. Listen to a 37 minute meeting of several dozen scallopers, led by Togue Braun, DMR's scallop expert

The Mussel Ridge archipelago of islets and ledges in southwest Penobscot Bay is interlaced by swirling currents of water from both the Gulf of Maine and the Penobscot River, which each spring travels as a giant plume of snowmelt freshwater from the river's 8,500 square mile watershed all the way to the southwestern edges of Penobscot Bay, bringing an untold wealth of nutrients to the waiting bay ecosystems. Michael Keating fishes this complex waterbody for a living and involves himself in the stakeholder processes for the ever-evolving fishing laws and regulations emanating from the agencies and legislatures of the state of Maine and the United States of America. In this 42 minute interview on March 25, 2009, Keating describes his experiences within the fisheries of the Mussel Ridge, details how scallopers and other fishermen take on thes latest challenges and opportunities, and offers a heads up on a new initiative dawning for Bay fishermen a zone-managed cod trapping industry in Maine's territorial Sea (Mean Low Water to three miles from shore. PHOTO: Mike Keating (right) and Arthur Alley(left) aboard Keating's scallop dragger Mary and Donna. (BDN photo by G. Degre)

On February 24th & 25th the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment and a host of other NGOs held a workshop in Portland titled "Status, Trends and Conservation of Eelgrass in Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern United States." Keynote Speaker was Dr Frederick Short of the University of New Hampshire's Jackson Estuarine Lab. He also directs the SeagrassNet Global Monitoring Program, and is Vice President, World Seagrass Association Here is his 43 minute keynote address to the workshop on February 24, entitled "Eelgrass: the Big Picture"

This is a shorter reposting of BayWatch talking by phone to Harlan McLaughlin, president of Fair Play for Sears Island. Harlan explains the mitigation process that the MDOT hopes to foist over Mainers with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers. We commiserate over what a mess the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club has made of Sears Island by teaming up with the Maine Dept of Transportation. As always, the sounds of Penobscot Bay interweave...

Enjoy a 40+ minute show that includes an overview of the state of corrections in Maine and elsewhere, and segues into a lengthy phone conversation with a retired inmate, or ex-con, who phoned in and promises to call again next week, with a guide to etiquette and survival for the incarcerated. All interlaced with Jimi Hendrix. This show aired over WRFR lpfm, community radio for coastal Knox County, Maine -Ron Huber, producer. See www.wrfr.org

On December 17th, Penobscot Bay Report's Ron Huber spoke with Jamie Johnson of Jess'Market on South Main Street in Rockland, Maine, about how the trade in lobsters and other live and fresh Maine- and Gulf of Maine-caught seafood is going in this time of a devalued dollar and a contracting economy. Ten minutes. See www.jessmarket.com

Rockland Maine lobsterman Artie Johnson talks with Penobscot Bay Report's Ron Huber about the state of Rockland's harbor. Lobster ecology and economy from a skiff lobsterman's point of view. 22 minutes 12/18/08. In photo, Artie is testifying at Rockland City Hall against proposed marina sprawl in harbor's lobster grounds. Developer lost!

On December 10th, WRFR community radio reporter Ron Huber visits the waterfront office of the Rockland Harbormaster. Ed Glaser is Rockland's current, and many say, most conservation-minded Harbormaster. They discuss his oversight of a busy five miles of very diverse waterfronts, each "working" at its own pace. From ferries visiting three islands, to marinas, shipyards, two coast guard facilities, two herring fleets, windjamming schooners and private landowners. In the harbor waters, dozens of lobstermen feed and livetrap and release thousands of lobsters that crawl into Rockland harbor each year. Meanwhile there are abandoned and derelict boats, moorings to be licensed, upcoming civic harbor events and lots more keeping Ed busy. Listen and learn. Photo courtesy Bates College

In this episode I have a discussion with Hillary Lister, environmental activist and producer at Maine Independent Media, about the proposed "Atlantica" free trade zone. The zone would include Maine New Hampshire Vermont and upstate new York, and the provinces of New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island, Labrador and New Foundland and Nothern quebec Atlantica promoters say that becuase this region has a common geography, ecology, and environment , it would act as a single economic unit if all trade barriers and regulatory barriers to trade were removed betweenthese states and provinces. Opponents of the plan, including lister, however, belive that the removal of these regulations would result i. a severe weakening ni environmental protection of the regions land air and water quality and its natural ecosystems. We spoke first however about Maine independent media and its role in providing news to the public. This podcast is 26 minutes long.

Today's podcast features an interview with Harlan McLaughlin, president of Fair Play for Sears Island. Sears Island has been defended people living nearby and from around the bay against efforts to build a nuclear power plant, a coal power plant, a woodchip port, an LNG port, and now, a container port. This latest gambit amazingly finds Maine Sierra Club on the side of the industrial port wannabes. Settling for half a loaf, the Maine chapter has conceded that big industry may build a port on the island, so long as it meets agency standards. Up to 1/3 of the 940 acre island could be terraformed. Big loser in the negotiations: eelgrass. The magic meadows along the west side of Sears Island nourish the great upper estuary of :Penobscot Bay, a place where river and bay come together in an ecosystem that nourishes and nurtures the groundfish, salmon, herring, mackerel, striped bass, bluefish and shrimp that live in or visit Penobscot Bay. All could be lost if a toxic container port sets up on Sears island, as proposed by government and industry. And Sierra Club! Listen to a twenty minute discussion between Huber and McLauglin discussing this important subject.

Twentyone minutes of the sounds of Rockland-bound fishing boats and ferries passing the Owls Head Lighthouse in heavy fog, while waves from the restless Gulf of Maine wash against the stony beach below.

This show takes a look at a shameful period in the European colonization of Newfoundland, the Northwest atlantic tip of Canada. Ron Huber reads a selection from "New Founde Land" by Canadian writer and naturalist Farley Mowat. The section of the book describes the relentless and cruel destruction of the Great Auk, a penguinlike bird that lived in vast rookeries on the rocky coasts and islands there, by the colonists of Atlantic Canada and New England for eggs, meat, feathers, even for oil!